The present invention relates in general to devices, commonly referred to as cap shoes, for making electrical connections between pluralities of conductors in cables and corresponding pluralities of conductors in various conductor-system components, and particularly telephone conductor-system components, such as terminals, connectors, and the like.
More particularly, the present invention relates to shoes for making electrical connections between plurlities of conductors in cables and corresponding pluralities of conductors in connector and/or bridge modules of a connector, commonly known in the telephone industry as a 710 connector, having substantially the structure disclosed in Frey et al, U.S. Pat. No. 3,772,635, granted Nov. 13, 1973. Basically, such a connector includes an index strip, a connector module and a connector-module cap, and may also include a bridge module having a bridge-module cap, each such module being adapted to accommodate, for example, 50 telephone conductors, or the like. As will become apparent, the shoes of the present invention make electrical connections between the respective cable conductors and the corresponding connector-module and bridge-module conductors through the connector-module and bridge-module caps, and, therefore, are referred to herein as cap shoes.
A cap shoe design is shown in the copending application, Ser. No. 060,997, filed July 26, 1979, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,285,563, and assigned to the same assignee as the present application. It is an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved cap shoe which will provide for a simplified production, reduction in cost, and improved operation.
A further object of the invention is to provide such a cap shoe which is particularly adapted for plastic molding manufacturing. An additional object is to provide such a cap shoe wherein the body is formed of two molded shell sections which provide for carrying the contact pins within one of the sections and also provides for removable end arms permitting use of the cap shoe with the connector module and with the bridge module as desired. An additional object is to provide such a new and improved cap shoe design incorporating adjustable shims and permitting use of the cap shoes with various sizes of connectors, and also incorporating a new and improved gripping element for retaining a connector component within a cap shoe.
These and other objects, advantages, features and results will more fully appear in the course of the following description.